Recently I wrote a post maintaining that choice had failed in Milwaukee, and that the city would be better off if it had a single public school system, doors open to all, receiving public support and public funding and civic energy. Uniting behind public education makes more sense than supporting three separate systems, none of which do well for studnts.

The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel published my post as an opinion piece. So far, my views have been critiqued by two other opinion pieces. One is by the research director of a free-market organization that advocates for vouchers, who says (ironically) that my call for unity around public schooling is “divisive.” This article gave me a hearty laugh.

The other article, by Patrick Wolf and John Witte also took exception to my blog post. They responded in an article in the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel and maintained that choice was a great success in Milwaukee and far better than public schooling.

This is my response to Wolf and Witte.

Milwaukee’s choice program is a failure. There are now three
separate systems—the public schools, with about 80,000 students; the
voucher schools, with about 23,000 students, and the charter schools,
with about 20,000 students.

There is very little difference among the three sectors in
terms of student achievement.

Patrick Wolf and John Witte do not agree. They think the
voucher and charter programs have been successful. They say that the
voucher schools have higher graduation rates, but critics who reviewed
their study say that about 75 percent of the original 9th graders were
not still enrolled in a voucher high school by the end of senior year.
With such high attrition from voucher schools, the graduation rates
are meaningless.

When the voucher and charter movements were first launched in the
early 1990s, advocates insisted that competition would cause the
public schools to improve. Governor Scott Walker still says so.

Advocates also said they wanted public funds to flow
to private and religious schools, because it would help minority
children.

But this has not happened. On the latest federal tests of math and reading, Milwaukee was one of the nation’s lowest performing urban school districts. Its performance was similar to the very lowest performing districts: Cleveland, D.C., and Detroit.

After twenty years of choice, the test scores of black
students in Milwaukee are similar to those of black students in
District of Columbia, Cleveland, Mississippi and Alabama.

Wolf and Witte claim that the choice schools do not skim the easiest
to educate students. When choice schools skim, it leaves the public schools worse off, with the most expensive students to educate

Wolf earlier admitted that 19% of the students in the Milwaukee
public schools have disabilities, compared to somewhere between 7 and
14.5 percent in the voucher schools. As Wolf told Education Week,
voucher schools typically accept students with mild to moderate
disabilities, which leaves the most severely disabled to the public
schools.

It is inefficient to run three separate school systems. Not only does
it triplicate costs, but it divides civic energy. All the people of
Milwaukee should work together to build a school system that meets the
needs of all the children.

Twenty years of experience with choice in Milwaukee demonstrates that
it is not effective or efficient to run three school systems. It does not meet the needs of children.

We should have learned that in 1954, when the U.S. Supreme Court declared
a dual school system to be unconstitutional.

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Witte and Wolf are constant apologists of the Milwaukee voucher program. Wolf is funded by the Walton foundation at U-Arkansas and the Wis. legislature continues to fund his studies of Milwaukee’s voucher program, which are seriously flawed. His response to our disability discrimination complaint was that his “surveys” showed more disabled students in voucher schools than the only accurate data out there (state testing data which requires disability identification data). His surveys asked voucher school teachers if they had children with learning disabilities in their classrooms. Hardly scientific.

I think this would apply to most states in the U.S. The last several years of my teaching career, I had more children with learning disabilities and emotional problems then I ever had. I was not able to get many of them the assistance they needed. The money was not there, so I was told to go back to my room and try more strategies. Then they were shoved on to the next grade with the same problems. Again I repeat–charters and private schools do not have to take these children. This is discrimination. The children are hurt because they can’t get the help they need and the public school teacher is hurt because he/she is looked at as though she isn’t a good teacher.

I’ve noticed the same game here in Maine. I’ve had several letters to the editor published about charter schools or other issues to add key facts and correct basic misimpressions in an article, only to find that within the next week the paper has published much more extensive (and self-serving) op-ed pieces from individuals and groups that were the subject of the original article.

And they call this “balanced” journalism: An original article poorly researched and lacking basic curiosity and skepticism about a group or organization, followed by a corrective letter (300 words), which is then overshadowed by more prominent op-ed pieces nearly three times as long.

It’s such a relief to have you interacting in the Milwaukee area conversation about privatization. I hope Alan Borsuk will write an article about this point/counterpoint making clear where he stands on the validity (spin) of the research group and the challenge from you to create one system that would be the focus of any/all support- civil, public funds,community, and interested parties from the business community. With Monday being Martin Luther King Day, what a great time to address the segregation effects already generated and those still coming when the legislature pushes for even more charters.

People seem to have a hard time dealing with reality through time. If these other types of schools are so good why haven’t their scores gone through the roof in all this time. Also, where did all the students who left the vouchers and charters go? Did they go back into the public school system or are they dropouts altogether? If dropouts than these charter and voucher schools are total losers and that is all there is to it. You must also, in order to properly evaluate these schools keep in mind the “Correction Factor”
which allows for the charter and voucher schools not having to follow ed code and local regulations. Also they do not deal with behavioral problems, ESL and special ed. When this is taken into account so that we are comparing the same thing charters and vouchers do real bad. Let’s be real about this subject, not ideological.

Thank you Diane for highlighting yet another unproven attempt to inject free market ideology into Wisconsin public schools.

The recent recall attempt exposed the forces supporting Gov. Walker and how they wish to dismantle public education and fill the void with free market principles. Walker rolled out phase two of his anti-public education plan in his State of the State address with more promises to “transform education” and “expand the number of choices for families in Wisconsin—be it a traditional, a charter, a voucher, a virtual, or a home school environment.”

The Wisconsin Policy Research Institute–which provided the first critique you mentioned– is in the same camp (or a suburb) of the MacIver Institute–which sponsored Operation Angry Badger designed to “document the shortcomings of public schools in Wisconsin.”

WPRI, MacIver, Citizens for Responsible Government (CRG), and the Tea Party forces supporting Gov. Walker have no intent to improve public education or provide support for our neediest students. A successful public education system with an extensive support network works against the lassez-faire capitalist ideology of these free marketeers.

Your willingness to continue to advocate for all students — and our students in Milwaukee is greatly appreciated. While there ARE some very good charter schools in Milwaukee — no one is willing to admit that many of the charter schools in our city are failing the majority of the students and families that they serve. The examples of excellence in Milwaukee have key relationships with organizations that support them and have high standards for their performance (and not just on “the tests). The administrators and teachers in those schools are formally trained and licensed. They recognize that the children they serve aren’t just numbers or data points.

Our Milwaukee Public Schools also value high standards in teaching, learning, and student well being. The Superintendent and his team are working hard to ensure that every student has a qualified, competent, and caring teacher… they are developing principal leaders that are prepared to work WITH teachers, students, the community, and families. These principals and assistant principals serve as the instructional leaders that coach, support, nurture, and demand academic excellence in EVERY school and for EVERY student. I also want to add that the teachers in the Milwaukee Public Schools are hard working, devoted, and tenacious individuals. They continue to persevere amidst political turmoil, societal ills, and the continued quest to denigrate their profession and destroy our public schools.

Again — thank you. I am committed to joining your fight. It is no longer enough to stand on the sidelines and be a silent — and polite — observer.

I have a question about the statistics on students with disabilities, though. The figure of 19% students with disabilities in the Milwaukee public schools is what I’ve heard. However, in an article about a 2011 suit filed by the ACLU and Disability Rights Wisconsin over disability discrimination by Wisconsin’s voucher schools (http://www.aclu.org/racial-justice/aclu-calls-department-justice-investigate-wisconsins-discriminatory-school-voucher), the figure quoted by an ACLU attorney for students with disabilities in Wisconsin voucher programs was a miniscule 1.6%. Far less than the 7-14% quoted above. Any thoughts on that discrepancy?

I also found it interesting and disturbing that Wolf & Witte tried to explain away the difference between voucher and MPS rates of students in special education by saying that voucher schools just don’t label as many students that way. When students leave the public schools and take a voucher, they lose all their federal rights and protections under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). So the voucher schools are not required to identify children with special educational needs, nor to appropriately meet those needs! It’s cheaper to educate students without special needs, after all… I find myself deeply doubting that any lower rate of identification of special education students in voucher schools is solely due to high-minded hesitation about labels.

As I mentioned in my response, Wolf himself admitted the voucher schools have a far smaller proportion if students with disabilities than public schools. He also admitted these were students with only the mildest disabilities.

Apparently other sources say the actual number is under 2%.

Is there any independent agency to set the record straight?

If voucher schools are under 2%, while public schools enroll 19.% special education, any comparison that ignores these facts is fraudulent

Thanks for the response. I figure I’ll continue to quote the under-two-percent number, given the trustworthy agencies bringing suit (ACLU and DRW) unless I hear something convincing to the contrary — but I’ll keep my eyes peeled.for more about how the numbers are sourced.

This is America. We are a nation of delusional people with fraud everywhere. Ask “Why is that so and what are we doing to ourselves?” Look at these delusional fraudulent wars. There was no WMD in Iraq and the Afghani’s wanted to give us Osama only really when it happened he was in a hospital in Pakistan like they and we did not know? Really? Remember Colin Powell holding up those satellite photos? That was only 30 year old technology. In other words a fraud. And the drawings of the mobile bio warfare labs. Another fraud. Powell lied all day to us to placate Bush and almost everybody bought it. Shame on us.

Yes, the independent agency is the Wis Dept. of Public Instruction, which possesses the only apples to apples accurate hard data based on the statewide test which must identify students with disabilities.

They have been busted in California only no one cares and are doing nothing about it. There seems to be big problems with the special ed organizations doing anything about this. Has to be a reason. I would ask “Who finances you?” Go get those numbers, compare them and report. There is nothing like some fresh air after being in the stink.

In Wisconsin, when I was at Disability Rights Wisconsin, we joined with the ACLU to file a disability discrimination complaint against this program with USDOJ. I’m no longer there, so I can’t update you further.

It is my understanding that the national average is about 12-13%. But, RTI is now distorting that number as a result of not identifying. You can see this where RTI has been implemented that the ratios have dropped. Here is an example: Recently at a power point presentation at the California State Board of Education it was stated that it was 10%. In the 2012-13 LAUSD Superintendents Budget it states 4.7%. The Federal Chanda Smith Court Monitor stated that it is 11.47%. I asked him where he obtained his data and he said the LAUSD data base. I then asked how from the same data base you could have 4.7% and 11.47% and he did not know. Also in that budget with only 4.7% of the students being special ed 24% of the districts total revenue came from state and federal special ed catagorical funding. Think about that.

I think there is a problem, because teachers in Public school take students we suspect have an LD problem or an emotional problem to a child study. We are not allowed to get all of them tested, even though we suspect that most of them do have problems. So, these students are not counted. They aren’t tested due to a lack of funding for Title I schools. These are the ones slipping through the cracks.

As Diane points out, the public schools are left with the bottom of the barrel. Thus their scores, minus the higher student achievers should be well below other schools, but they are not. Why? Because competition from school choice has raised the bottom of the barrel to a higher level. This is the fact that detractors of school choice do not want you to see.